This invention relates to an air conditioner for automotive vehicles capable of cooling intake air being supplied to an internal combustion engine, which is adapted to utilize its freezing cycle for cooling the intake air.
In recent years there have been widely used automotive vehicles which are equipped with a turbo-charger (exhaust turbine supercharger) in the intake and exhaust systems of the internal combustion engine for the purpose of increasing the engine output without an increase in the exhaust gas quantity. Also known are automotive vehicles of this kind wherein an intercooler is provided between the turbocharger and the intake manifold to cool hot compressed air supplied from the compressor of the turbocharger to thereby supply the engine combustion chambers with high-density intake air and hence improve the combustion efficiency of the engine.
The conventional intercoolers are adapted to cool intake air being taken into the engine by means of air in the atmosphere. Therefore, they suffer from insufficient cooling efficiency obtained thereby.